New York
AC Institute
Heide Hatry, a German artist and former antiquarian bookseller, recently assembled a collection of contemporary incarnations of the book—from ancient text to high-tech video—and installed her selections in a library-like setting at AC Institute in Chelsea. “One of a Kind” celebrated the many facets of the book as a sculptural, interactive, non-site-specific, multimedia art form. But there was a crack in the spine of this otherwise sturdy exhibition that made it the tail wagging the dog of a covert curatorial agenda. But first, hats off to the artists. Claudia Sbrissa’s B (Vol.2, World Book Edition) (2010) speaks volumes to the anticipated demise of the book as a coveted possession to be held, leafed through with moistened fingers, even dog-eared. These pleasures may one day be as defunct as the B volume from the World Book Encyclopedia that Sbrissa sealed in a coating of beeswax. It suggests retired knowledge, its perspectives… see the entire review in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
